Many of you may have been hearing about the area’s first community school, a pilot program which will begin at Robberson Elementary this fall. As one of Springfield’s most impoverished schools (see report), the Community School project is an exciting new concept in which we are eager to partner.
The school will serve as a community hub for numerous activities and programs designed to provide support for not only the children who attend, but for the Robberson community as a whole. Programs could include such things as parent education classes, on-site medical clinics, tutoring, health care, mental/behavioral health services, etc. Parents will play an active role in determining the most pressing needs. School officials will work with community partners (area businesses, nonprofits, and the faith-based community) to help meet these needs.
As a community partner, Missouri State’s CASL office will conduct a workshop/luncheon to help train Robberson faculty about service-learning as well as assist them in integrating this type of teaching into K-6 curriculum. Additionally, service-learning students from multiple academic areas will partner with Robberson this fall. This helps to address one of CASL’s long-term goals of providing greater impact and value to agencies by pooling service-learning resources from various academic departments.